cezary duchnowski
composer, pianist
Cezary Duchnowski is a composer, pianist, performer and lecturer.
He co-founded the Computer Composition Studio at the Academy of Music in Wrocław. Electroacoustic music has been the main focus of his artistic activity in recent years. This is connected with a need to engage more deeply with sound matter. Hence his use of the computer: an instrument whose open potential, to a large extent, helps reveal new aspects of the elementary properties of music, unburdened by extra-musical content.
Apart from composing a specific time-space, the instruments themselves can also be “composed” here. Such a situation allows for an encounter with the essence of music. It makes it possible to shape its point of departure, which is at the same time its conditio sine qua non: the sound itself, endowed with its own individual character.
It is sound that constitutes the indivisible substance of which the musical being consists. Sound is, like Leibniz’s monad, a closed cosmos.
SHORT ABOUT
PROJECTS
ElettroVoce
A duo for voice and electronics.
This duo is the result of the artistic collaboration between two composers: Agata Zubel and Cezary Duchnowski. Their work is characterized by a distinctive approach to music: a fascination with timbre, the expansion of performative resources, and a continuous search for new contexts in which traditional instruments may function and be redefined.
monadas
A cycle of electroacoustic chamber pieces.
Electroacoustic music is an extraordinary field in which to explore the fundamental properties of music. Apart from composing a specific time-space, the instruments themselves can also be “composed” here. Such a situation allows for an encounter with the essence of music. It makes it possible to shape its point of departure, which is at the same time its conditio sine qua non: sound itself, endowed with its own individual character.
It is sound that constitutes the indivisible substance of which the musical being consists. Sound is, like Leibniz’s monad, a closed cosmos.
The Broadcasts
Compositions for narrator and computer, based on short stories by Piotr Jasek.
The narrator is the actor Eryk Lubos.
ABCD
Cello + electronics.
A collaboration with Andrzej Bauer — one of the most renowned and charismatic Polish cellists.
The project includes original compositions for cello and electronics by Cezary Duchnowski, improvisations, reinterpretations of early music, and selected compositions from Andrzej Bauer’s Celletronicum project.
Phonos ek Mechanes
A trio for three computers.
The ensemble was founded in 2007 by Cezary Duchnowski, Paweł Hendrich and Sławomir Kupczak. The trio performs its music on laptops, most often controlled by acoustic instruments.
Phonos ek Mechanes creates live electronics: music based on algorithms written in Max/MSP. It is a specific kind of live electronics — human electronics — in which the music takes the shape of human gestures.
El Derwid
A cycle of electroacoustic chamber pieces.
Electroacoustic music is an extraordinary field in which to explore the fundamental properties of music. Apart from composing a specific time-space, the instruments themselves can also be “composed” here. Such a situation allows for an encounter with the essence of music. It makes it possible to shape music’s point of departure, which is at the same time its conditio sine qua non: sound itself, endowed with its own individual character.
CHOPIN' AROUND
A modern take on Chopin’s Preludes, Op. 28.
The musical layer comprises voice, computers and electronically enhanced traditional instruments: cello, piano and percussion. It is marked by freedom of improvisation, as well as by the live interaction between sound and image.
The authors of the project juxtapose traditional piano interpretations of the cycle with a novel, personal perspective, creatively employing state-of-the-art multimedia technology. The idea behind engaging with this work is not merely to give it a new sound, but also to offer a new aesthetic reflection on an established masterpiece.
The Chopin’ Around project has many guises: it continues to evolve and transform its character.
Black Whole
Improvised performance for three musicians and video
Duration: 1 hour
Commissioned by the Ad Libitum Festival, Warsaw, 2012
First performance: 11 October 2012, Warsaw
Cezary Duchnowski — prepared piano, electronics, video
Anna Zaradny — voice, saxophone, electronics, video
Pierre Jodlowski — bass, electronics, video
Photo Score - OTO
Mariusz Wideryński – pictures
Cezary Duchnowski - piano
Szabolcs Esztenyi – piano
Jerzy Kornowicz – piano
Włodek Pawlik - piano
Photo Score - ROMÂNIA MEA
music by Duchnowski/Latecki/Wielecki
pictures: Dumitrescu
Bajki robotów
Bajki robotów (Fables of Robots)
Justyna Skoczek — typewriter, MIDI keyboard
Andrzej Bauer — cello, electric cello
Maciej Frąckiewicz — accordion
Rafał Łuc — accordion
Leszek Lorent — percussion instruments
Paweł Romańczuk — unconventional instruments
Paweł Hendrich — computer, electric guitar
Cezary Duchnowski — computer, keyboards
Bartłomiej Szlachcic — visualization director
2EDIFICATION: Łukasz Rozmysłowski, Norbert Rosiek — dubstep dance
HybryDuo
A collaboration with Paweł Romańczuk.
An original project based on a unique hybrid instrument in which the mechanical part produces primarily electronic sound, while the computer setup is used as a kind of mechanical instrument.
Major Compositions
• 1993 – Impresje żuławskie – for chamber orchestra
• 1996 – Chmielowy poemat – for soprano, actors’ choir and large symphony orchestra
• 1996 – Liryki z motłochu myśli niczyich – for 3 sopranos, choir, harpsichord and piano
• 1997 – Krany – concert-performance for piano and soprano, with the participation of a quintet, dance theatre and an actor
• 1998 – Hypér tes morphés – for tape
• 1998 – Morphai – multimedia performance for soprano, saxophone, piano, marimbaphone and electronic media, with dance, performance and video
• 1998 – Medianty – for string quartet, harpsichord and piano
• 1998 – Gry – audiovisual performance for soprano, saxophone, piano, marimbaphone and electronic media, with dancers and an actor
• 1999 – Wernisaż – for photographs, piano and tape
• 2001 – monada 1 – for accordion and two violins
• 2001 – Początek. Audycja 1 – for narrator and electronics
• 2001 – Postęp – for soprano and electronics
• 2002 – Wyczochraczone – for computer
• 2002 – Trawy rozczochrane – for voice and computer
• 2002 – Triady – for string orchestra and electronics
• 2002 – Cel. Audycja 2 – for narrator and electronics
• 2003 – monada 2 – for voice, trumpet and computer
• 2003 – monada 3 – for voice, piano and computer
• 2003 – monada 4 – for Baron, Wojtasik and computer
• 2004 – Rzeczywistość na rozciągniętych szelkach z okna – for clarinet, trombone, piano, cello and electronics
• 2004 – Niewieżowce – for string orchestra and computer
• 2005 – 10 1, 8 2, 6 3, 4 4 – for string quartet
• 2005 – Brama – for symphony orchestra and computer
• 2005 – Broda – for cello and computer
• 2006 – Ogród Marty – chamber opera for female voice, actor, electronic media and instruments; libretto: Piotr Jasek
• 2006 – Apoftegmata – for tape
• 2006 – monada 5 – for at least 3 improvising musicians and computer
• 2007 – Szymanki Kurpianowskie – for voice, piano and computer; collective composition
• 2008 – Rzeczywistość na rozciągniętych szelkach z okna – for 2 pianos, strings and computer
• 2008 – Sweter. Audycja 3 – for narrator and electronics
• 2009 – Cello_net – for cello octet
• 2009 – Głosy miasta – for symphony orchestra, choir and computer
• 2009 – Rzut kości – for three computers
• 2010 – Stazione Termini – music for a performance by the Wrocław Pantomime Theatre
• 2011 – 1 5 1, 2 4 2, 3 3 3 – for violin, cello and electronics
• 2011 – Crossfade – for accordion, cello and electronics
• 2012 – i – for groups of instruments and electronics
• 2012 – Fere Vetus Canticum – for voice and accordion
• 2012 – Koniec poezji – for voice, electric cello, orchestra and electronics
• 2012 – Acc++ca – for accordion and computer
• 2013 – Kamień – rzeka – rytm – for 4 violas da gamba and electronics
• 2013 – Muzyka Form Przestrzennych – for voice, cello, strings and electronics
• 2014 – Parallels – for piano, MIDI keyboard, percussion and cello
• 2014 – In Between – for hybrid instruments and voice
• 2014 – Drone Music – for instruments and electronics
• 2015 – Set Symphony – for a group of instruments and electronics
• 2016 – Bajki Robotów – co-opera; co-composed with Paweł Hendrich
• 2016 – eSequenza I. Study for Next Cymbal Stroke – for cymbal and computer
• 2017 – The Spring Ball of the Full Moon – for ensemble and electronics
• 2017 – Układy względnie odosobnione – Phonos ek Mechanes: Cezary Duchnowski, Paweł Hendrich, Paweł Romańczuk
• 2018 – Wściekłość – for voice, instruments and electronics
• 2018 – Przedtakt octophonic tace – collective composition for voice and tape; Cezary Duchnowski, Rafał Augustyn
• 2019 – eSequenza III. The Rest. – for voice and computer
• 2020 – Diabelskie skrzypce – rural opera; co-authored with Maciej Filipczuk
• 2021 – phonoPhantomatics – for instruments and electronics
• 2021 – Z doskonałej próżni – for voices and electronics; parts 2 and 5
• 2023 – cROSSFAdE 4 – for trumpet, trombone and electronics
• 2024 – Matching Components – collective multimedia audiovisual composition; music: Cezary Duchnowski, Marcin Rupociński; video: Maja Wolińska, Laura Adel
• 2025 – Najlepsze Miasto Świata – opera in two acts for two female voices, choirs, large symphony orchestra and electronics
• 2025 – Cryotune – music: Cezary Duchnowski; video: Laura Adel; immersive project Random Check 7
• 2025 – Posthumana 1 – for instruments and electronics
• 2026 – The Syntax of Nature and Other Approximate Truths – music: Cezary Duchnowski; video: Norbert Kowalczyk; choreography: Kaya Kołodziejczyk; part of the multimedia immersive project Random Check 8: Un-organic
MUSIC
HI-RES PHOTO
phot. Tomasz Kulak
phot. Łukasz Rajchert from NFM archives
Budapest
Radziejowice2013 phot. Adam Walanus
Radziejowice2013 phot. Adam Walanus
phot. Tomasz Kulak
phot. Tomasz Kulak
phot. Tomasz Kulak
Wigry
Kody 2013 phot. WojtekKornet